


the elephant in the room

by Asvan



Category: Disco Elysium (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Explicit Language, Gen, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:33:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24358864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asvan/pseuds/Asvan
Summary: Dance, dance, kill, killBaby, baby, make it realDance, dance, kill, killRap is dead, I wanna trillDance, dance, kill, killCan you tell me who I am?Dance, dance, kill, killFuck them all, I wanna rave
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Disco Elysium Big Bang





	the elephant in the room

The elephant looks at you. It’s impossibly, cartoonishly large, sprawling across the wall, enormous and filled with… something that makes you feel sick. Or perhaps it’s all the vodka you feel burning through your stomach.

INLAND EMPIRE – It’s definitely the elephant.

PERCEPTION (Sight) [Easy: Success] – Looks like somebody tried to paint some of it green, but gave up halfway through.

ENDURANCE – Fucking nauseating.

THE MAN WITH NO SHIRT – “Э, ты там чё завис? Культурой интересуешься? Отлипай нахуй и сюда шуруй” – you notice that there is another person in the room, other than the elephant. A middle-aged balding man (hair cropped short), face red and swollen, old and stained FALN sweats, no shirt. His chest and arms are covered with faded blue-ink tattoos – pictures of women, cards, knives, church domes and words in an alphabet you cannot read.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] – There is a shirt somewhere in the room, greasy and stained, sleeveless wife-beater, but he has no wife to beat.

YOU – “What..?”

THE MAN WITH NO SHIRT – “Хуй те в рот, бля, сюда иди говорю” – he waves his hand in a beckoning motion, a glass in his hand filled with murky… something.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Success] – Samogon. Usually made with potato peel. Unknown methanol content.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Oh fuck, WE’RE PARTYING HARD HERE, MY MAN!

YOU – You stumble forward.

PERCEPTION (Touch) – Your shirt is unbuttoned, but your tie is still on.

HORRIFIC NECKTIE – At last, you’re breaking bread with my people, *bratan*. Sync it up. *Revel* in the glory of unknown methanol content. Going blind is part of the fun!

PERCEPTION (Sight) [Medium: Success] – As you approach the table, you see all the bread you’ve apparently been breaking. An open bottle of samogon, a jar of pickles, dried herring, half-eaten, laid on top of an old newspaper (alphabet still unknown). A knife. Military type. Grease stains everywhere.

EMCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] – Graadian. The alphabet is Graadian.

PERCEPTION (Sight) – The room is dark, lit only by a single light bulb dangling from a cluster of wires above. The wallpapers, old with time and cigarette smoke, are peeling off. You swear you can see cockroaches moving underneath.

YOU – You sit down. The stool is old and squeaky, legs unevenly balanced, so you are rocking slightly with every movement.

THE MAN WITH NO SHIRT – He looks at you, intently, the pale blue iris liquid in the eye, floating like a jellyfish, wet and dangerous, the whites bloodshot and yellow. He’s drunk.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] – You’re drunk as well, amigo.

HORRIFIC NECKTIE – *Bratan*.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Drink his fucking eyes out. I bet they are salty. Good with beer. Do we have any left?

PERCEPTION (Sight) [Medium: Success] – No. But there are some empty bottles on the floor. You could collect them later.

THE MAN WITH NO SHIRT – He pours two glasses of samogon.

THE MAN WITH NO SHIRT – “Ну что, бахнем? Твое здоровье” – He raises his glass, still looking at you.

YOU – You grab and move to raise your own.

REACTION SPEED [Impossible: Failure] – As you move in to clink them together, something in the man’s face changes and he throws his drink in your face.

THE MAN WITH NO SHIRT – “Не будет у тебя больше никакого здоровья, гнида метовская” – he stands up, suddenly, stool flying, and reaches for the knife on the table.

  1. **\- REACTION SPEED [Godly] – Grab the knife before him.**
  2. \- INTERFACING [Legendary] – Grab the beer bottle from the floor and smash it.
  3. \- Try to get away.



REACTION SPEED [Godly: Failure] – You try to reach for the knife but he’s faster than you. And familiar with the weapon.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Failure] – OH GOD OH FUCK OH GOD OH FUCK OH GOD

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] – It’s a good think you didn’t go for the bottle. You would most likely end up with your hand full of glass.

PERCEPTION (Sight) – There is still table between you. You have five seconds or so.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Failure] – OH FUCK OH GOD OH FUCK OH GOD OH FUCK

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] – Don’t panic. You were trained to disarm people. This one is drunk. He will make mistakes.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY – You’re also drunk, buddy-boy. Let’s get this party STARTED!

THE MAN WITH NO SHIRT – He starts closing in on you, walking around the table, waving the knife in front of him. It’s all reflexes, no thinking involved.

  1. **\- PERCEPTION (Sight) [Challenging] – Try to make out the pattern.**
  2. \- PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Legendary] – Lunge at him and try to wrench the knife out of his hand.



PERCEPTION (Sight) [Challenging: Success] – Yes! You can see it now, there is a system in the swaying of the knife.

  1. **\- PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Legendary] – Lunge at him and try to wrench the knife out of his hand.**



PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Legendary: Failure; +2 – saw the pattern] – You lunge at him, aiming at the wrist, but he manages to slice your palms, your wrists and your arm while you’re moving in for the grab.

HALF LIGHT –RUNGORUNGORUNGORUNGORUN

ENDURANCE – That was bad. You won’t hold much longer if you keep exposing yourself like that.

DAMAGED HEALTH -2

PAIN THRESHOLD – Bah! Just a scratch. Now get that knife before it gets your neck.

  1. **\- PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging] – You’ve grabbed him, now try to get the hold of the knife.**



PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging: Success; -1 – you’re bleeding] – using your muscle memory, you snap the man’s wrist and wrench the knife out.

THE MAN WITH NO KNIFE – “АХ ТЫ СУКА” – he yells out, and tackles you to the ground.

REACTION SPEED [Legendary: Success] – You manage to sidestep a little and fall hard on the man, pinning *him* to the ground.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] – The knife in your hand plunges right into the man’s throat.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] – You have your own reflexes as well, it seems.

THE MAN WITH NO KNIFE – He gurgles on the ground, knife sticking out of his neck like a memorial, no longer a threat.

YOU – The room smells of cigarette smoke, alcohol and sweat. Now blood, too. You feel lightheaded and sick. You’re still bleeding out.

DAMAGED HEALTH -1

New task: find something to stop the bleeding.

YOU – You look around. The room is furnished quite sparsely – a wardrobe, a bedside table, a table with two stools, both lying on the ground. A radio on the windowsill. A carpet on the floor, now containing a lot of blood and a corpse on it.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] – The wardrobe will probably have some cloth you can try to use.

THE WARDROBE – As you open it, it greets you with a heavy naphthalene smell, and some bed linens you cut with the knife (trying to tear them makes your hands hurt A LOT). Bandaging yourself takes a lot of time and cursing, but at the end you seemingly prevent the blood getting out of your body too much.

HEALED HEALTH +1

Task completed: find something to stop the bleeding.

YOU – You should probably still see a doctor. You might need stitches.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Hey. You should roll that body into the carpet. And then put on some music. No! First, put on some music and the roll the body into the carpet.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Also finish that samogon.

YOU – You get to the windowsill radio and search for some anodic dance music.

PERCEPTION (Hearing) – Hm. This one has lyrics.

YOU – You get to the table and drink your glass of samogon, poured to you by the dead man. You sniff it down with a pickle.

Substance used: Alcohol “Samogon”

ALCOHOL: PHYSIQUE RAISED

DAMAGED MORALE -1

YOU – “All right. Lets’ do this!”

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging: Success] – You get the knife out and wrap the cooling body in the carpet. Who knows how long it takes – the songs on the radio are a blur in an unfamiliar language, but it feels like a lot. You are tired and covered in blood.

THE ELEPHANT – The charcoal monstrosity on the wall, your witness, winks at you, its trunk raised in mock salute. It’s abominable.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY – Well, who are you waiting for? Time to party, my man!

**Author's Note:**

> [ost 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5wbicb6lA4)   
>  [ost 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5wbicb6lA4%E2%80%9D>ost%201</a>%0A<a%20href=)   
>  [ost 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBJty_0HFI)   
>  [отопью напиточек - это время пыточек](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBJty_0HFI%E2%80%9D>ost%203</a>%0A<a%20href=)   
>  [зеленый слоник тут не просто так](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCRmWZoAY1g)   
>  [full size picture](https://sun7-8.userapi.com/D3KaFvvZKXSP6tw-L9sUJMgUOOrl6ypPF-Xw0w/EQYWJ7Hmr5c.jpg)


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